#3542: Another Haitian Opposition Politician Slain (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Rosann Clements <rosann@onemain.com>

Tuesday May 9 9:31 AM ET
Another Haitian Opposition Politician Slain
By Jennifer Bauduy
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - Gunmen killed a rural leader of an
opposition party, his son, and another person in the latest spate of
political killings ahead of May and June elections, party members said on
Monday.
The unknown assailants shot and killed Elam Senat, his son Edner, and later
another individual on Sunday night in the village of Savanette northeast of
the capital in Haiti's Center Department.
Senat was a local leader for the opposition Espace de Concertation coalition
party.
During the weekend gunmen exploded a grenade into the home of an Espace de
Concertation candidate for parliament deputy in Fonds Verrettes, southeast
of the capital, party officials said. No injuries were reported.
Political killings and other violence have skyrocketed in the past month as
Haiti nears two rounds of legislative and municipal elections scheduled for
May 21 and June 25.
``The Espace de Concertation in Savanette ... is asking how the May 21
elections can take place?'' a local party member said on Radio Metropole.
The Espace party headquarters was burned down on April 8, by protesters
claiming to be supporters of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide
following the funeral of assassinated pro-government journalist Jean
Dominique.
In Savanette in early April, unknown assailants shot and hacked to death a
rural assembly candidate of the Christian Movement for a New Haiti party and
attacked his daughter with a machete.
Upcoming elections are expected to re-establish parliament, which President
Rene Preval dissolved in January 1999 to end an 18-month political impasse.
Few politicians are actively campaigning. Most have run out of funds, or
fear political violence.
The United States led a multinational invasion to overthrow a military
dictatorship and restore Aristide to power in 1994.